Telangana: SC rejects ex-MP's PIL on resignations

Questioning the locus standi of the petitioner, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed by former Member of Parliament M Narayana Reddy seeking a direction to the Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker to accept the resignation submitted by 139 MLAs on the Telangana issue.

"Who are you? It is very strange that such a petition is being filed. You are not an MLA or MP. What are you? What is the public interest involved in it? Who gave you the right to present petition," the bench told Reddy while dismissing the PIL.

The petition comes in the backdrop of reports that the speaker had already turned down the resignation submitted by the legislators of political parties in the state.

Reddy in his PIL had contended that the resignation submitted by the MLAs on the issue of Telangana be deemed to have been accepted by the speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

According to the petition, the MLAs belonging to Telangana irrespective of their political affiliations, had submitted their resignations personally to the speaker who acknowledged the receipt of 139 letters in this regard but did not act on it.

The former MP had submitted that the issue involved important questions of the Constitution affecting its basic structure, namely the rights and privileges of the MLAs, their freedom of speech and expression and the dignity of the house.

However, only Reddy has been named as a petitioner.